Office of Public Sector Information
Section 254
1 A local social services authority may, with the Secretary of State’s approval, and to such extent as he may direct must, make arrangements for the care of pregnant women and women who are breast feeding (other than for the provision of residential accommodation for them).
2 (1) A local social services authority may, with the Secretary of State’s approval, and to such extent as he may direct must, make the arrangements mentioned in sub-paragraph (2).
(2) The arrangements are for the purpose of the prevention of illness, for the care of persons suffering from illness and for the after-care of persons who have been suffering from illness and in particular for—
(a) the provision, for persons whose care is undertaken with a view to preventing them from becoming ill, persons suffering from illness and persons who have been suffering from illness, of centres or other facilities for training them or keeping them suitably occupied and the equipment and maintenance of such centres,
(b) the provision, for the benefit of such persons as are mentioned in paragraph (a), of ancillary or supplemental services, and
(c) the exercise of the functions of the local social services authority in respect of persons suffering from mental disorder who are received into guardianship under Part 2 or 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (c. 20) (whether the guardianship of the authority or of other persons).
(3) A local social services authority may not, and is not under a duty to, make under this paragraph arrangements to provide facilities for any of the purposes mentioned in section 15(1) of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944 (c. 10).
(4) No arrangements under this paragraph may provide for the payment of money to persons for whose benefit they are made, except in so far as they fall within sub-paragraph (5).
(5) Arrangements fall within this sub-paragraph if—
(a) they provide for the remuneration of such persons engaged in suitable work in accordance with the arrangements of such amounts as the local social services authority considers appropriate in respect of their occasional personal expenses, and
(b) it appears to the authority that no such payment would otherwise be made.
(6) No arrangements under this paragraph may be given effect to in relation to a person to whom section 115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (c. 33) (exclusion from benefits) applies solely—
(a) because he is destitute, or
(b) because of the physical effects, or anticipated physical effects, of his being destitute.
(7) Section 95(2) to (7) of that Act apply for the purposes of sub-paragraph (6); and for that purpose a reference to the Secretary of State in section 95(4) or (5) is a reference to a local social services authority.
(8) The Secretary of State may make regulations as to the conduct of premises in which facilities are provided in pursuance of arrangements made under this paragraph for persons—
(a) who are or have been suffering from mental disorder within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1983, or
(b) whose care is undertaken with a view to preventing them from becoming sufferers from mental disorder.
(9) “Facilities” means facilities for training such persons or keeping them suitably occupied.
(10) This paragraph does not apply in relation to persons under the age of 18.
(11) No authority is authorised or may be required under this paragraph to provide residential accommodation for any person.
3 (1) Each local social services authority—
(a) must provide or arrange for the provision of, on such a scale as is adequate for the needs of its area, of home help for households where such help is required owing to the presence of a person to whom sub-paragraph (2) applies, and
(b) may provide or arrange for the provision of laundry facilities for households for which home help is being, or can be, provided under paragraph (a).
(2) This sub-paragraph applies to any person who—
(a) is suffering from illness,
(b) is pregnant or has recently given birth,
(c) is aged, or
(d) handicapped as a result of having suffered from illness or by congenital deformity.
4 (1) A local social services authority may conduct or assist other persons in conducting research into matters relating to the functions of local social services authorities under this Schedule.
(2) Sub-paragraph (1) does not affect any powers conferred by any other Act.
Section 259
1 (1) Any person who sells or buys the goodwill of a medical practice which it is unlawful to sell by virtue of section 259 is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding—
(a) such amount as will in the court’s opinion secure that he derives no benefit from the offence, and
(b) the further amount of £500,
or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or both.
(2) Any person proposing to be a party to a transaction or series of transactions which he considers might amount to a sale of the goodwill of a medical practice in contravention of section 259 may ask the Secretary of State for a certificate under this paragraph.
(3) The Secretary of State must—
(a) consider any such application, and
(b) if he is satisfied that the transaction or series of transactions does not involve the giving of valuable consideration in respect of the goodwill of such a medical practice, issue to the applicant a certificate to that effect.
(4) The certificate must—
(a) be in the prescribed form, and
(b) set out all material circumstances disclosed to the Secretary of State.
(5) Where any person is charged with an offence under this paragraph in respect of any transaction or series of transactions, it is a defence to prove that the transaction or series of transactions was certified by the Secretary of State under sub-paragraph (3).
(6) Any document purporting to be such a certificate is admissible in evidence and is deemed to be such a certificate unless the contrary is proved.
(7) The court may disregard such a certificate if it appears to the court that the applicant for the certificate—
(a) failed to disclose to the Secretary of State all the material circumstances, or
(b) made any misrepresentation with respect to the material circumstances.
(8) A prosecution for an offence under this paragraph may be instituted only by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Secretary of State must, at the request of the Director, furnish him with—
(a) a copy of any certificate issued by the Secretary of State under sub-paragraph (3), and
(b) copies of any documents produced to him in connection with the application for that certificate.
2 (1) For the purposes of section 259 and paragraph 1, a disposal of premises previously used for the purposes of a medical practice is deemed to be a sale of the goodwill of a medical practice if—
(a) the person disposing of the premises did so knowing that another person (“A”) intended to use them for the purposes of A’s medical practice, and
(b) the consideration for the disposal substantially exceeded the consideration that might reasonably have been expected if the premises had not previously been used for the purposes of a medical practice.
(2) If a person disposes of any premises together with any other property, the court must, for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), make such apportionment of the consideration as it considers just.
(3) For the purposes of sub-paragraphs (1) and (2)—
(a) “disposal” means any sale, letting or other form of disposal (whether by a single transaction or a series of transactions) and “disposes” and “disposing” must be read accordingly, and
(b) a person who procures the disposal of any premises must be treated as having disposed of them.
(4) Where in pursuance of any partnership agreement—
(a) any valuable consideration, other than the performance of services in the partnership business, is given by a partner or proposed partner as consideration for his being taken into partnership,
(b) any valuable consideration is given to a partner, on or in contemplation of his retirement or of his acceptance of a reduced share of the partnership profits, or to the personal representative of a partner on his death, not being a payment in respect of that partner’s share in past earnings of the partnership or in any partnership assets or any other payment required to be made to him as the result of the final settlement of accounts, as between him and the other partners, in respect of past transactions of the partnership, or
(c) services are performed by any partner for a consideration substantially less than those services might reasonably have been expected to be worth having regard to the circumstances at the time when the agreement was made,
there is deemed for the purposes of section 259 and paragraph 1 to have been a sale of goodwill as specified in sub-paragraph (5).
(5) The sale of goodwill is the sale of the goodwill of the practice—
(a) of any partner to whom, or to whose personal representative, the consideration (or any part of it) is given or for whose benefit the services are performed,
(b) to the partner or each of the partners by or on whose behalf the consideration (or any part of it) was given or to the partner who performed the services.
(6) The sale is deemed for the purposes of section 259 and paragraph 1 to have been effected—
(a) in a case to which sub-paragraph (4)(a) or (b) applies, at the time when the consideration was given, or, if the consideration was not all given at the same time, at the time when the first part was given, or
(b) in a case to which sub-paragraph (4)(c) applies, at the time when the agreement was made.
(7) Sub-paragraph (8) applies if a person (“the assistant”)—
(a) performs services on behalf of a person who carries on a medical practice (or as an employee of a person employing a practitioner who carries on a medical practice),
(b) receives substantially less remuneration for performing those services than might reasonably have been expected, having regard to the circumstances at the time when the remuneration was fixed, and
(c) subsequently succeeds, whether as a result of a partnership agreement or otherwise, to that practice.
(8) For the purposes of section 259 and paragraph 1, a sale of the goodwill of the practice is deemed to have taken place (at the time when the remuneration was fixed) unless it is proved that the remuneration was not fixed in contemplation of the assistant’s succeeding to the practice.
(9) For the purposes of section 259 and paragraph 1, the goodwill of a medical practice is deemed to have been sold if sub-paragraph (10) or (11) applies.
(10) This sub-paragraph applies where a person carrying on the practice (or employing a practitioner who carries on a medical practice) agrees, for valuable consideration—
(a) to do or refrain from doing any act for the purpose of facilitating the succession of another to the practice, or
(b) to allow any act to be done for that purpose.
(11) This sub-paragraph applies where a person—
(a) gives valuable consideration to a person carrying on the practice (or employing a practitioner who carries on a medical practice), and
(b) succeeds, or has previously succeeded, to the practice.
(12) Sub-paragraph (9) does not apply if it is proved that no part of the consideration was given in respect of the goodwill.
(13) Sub-paragraph (9) does not apply to anything done—
(a) in relation to the acquisition of premises for the purposes of a medical practice,
(b) in pursuance of a partnership agreement, or
(c) in the performance of medical services by one person as an assistant to another.
3 (1) In determining for the purposes of section 259 and this Schedule the consideration given in respect of any transaction, the court must—
(a) have regard to any other transaction appearing to the court to be associated with the first transaction,
(b) estimate the total consideration given in respect of both or all the transactions, and
(c) apportion the total between the transactions in such manner as the court considers just.
(2) For the purposes of section 259 and this Schedule consideration is deemed to be given to a person (“B”) if—
(a) it is given to another person but with B’s knowledge and consent, and
(b) it appears to the court that B has derived, or will derive, a substantial benefit from the giving of the consideration.
4 The fact that a person’s medical practice was previously carried on by another person who at any time provided or performed services as specified in section 259 does not, by itself, make it unlawful under section 259 for the goodwill of his practice to be sold.
5 In section 259 and this Schedule, unless the context otherwise requires, references to a person include, in the case of an individual who has died, references to his personal representative.
National Health Service Act 2006